LONDON - The UK House of Commons is set for a dramatic showdown
Wednesday afternoon as opposition MPs and a handful of
Conservative rebels attempt to pass a bill that would delay
Brexit until at least 2020.

Twenty-one rebel Conservative MPs were expelled from the party
when they joined forces with Labour and other opposition parties
on Tuesday evening to seize control of the parliamentary agenda
on Wednesday afternoon.

They will next attempt to pass a bill that would delay Brexit
until at least January 2020, with the prime minister responding
that he would table a motion for a general election instead.

What does this all mean?

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The
cross-party group of MPs have used a motion, called SO24, that
gives them time to debate a law that would force the prime
minister to seek a Brexit delay if he fails to secure a deal with
the European Union by October 31, when the UK is scheduled to
leave.

The motion was backed by a majority of MPs, meaning that on
Wednesday the bill designed to block a no-deal exit would be
tabled in the name of Hilary Benn and Alistair Burt, MPs from the
Labour and Conservative parties who are leading the no-deal
opposition.

Bills are the mechanism by which important legislation enters the
UK statute books. Usually, bills take weeks to be approved by the
House of Commons and the House of Lords, but this process would
need to be forced through in as little as three days.

That is because UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has moved to
suspend Parliament starting next week, a move apparently designed
to prevent lawmakers from moving to delay Brexit.

The bill is set to be presented at 3 p.m. GMT. It should race
through the first, second, and third stages of reading in the
Commons by Wednesday evening. At that point, it would head to the
House of Lords, where it could face roadblocks from Conservative
peers who support Brexit.

If all goes to plan, though, the bill will be passed into law on
Monday next week.

How will Boris Johnson react?

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Johnson
has insisted there are "no circumstances" under which he will ask
for Brexit to be delayed, with aides insisting that he will
instead seek a general election.

A senior government official confirmed on Monday that Downing
Street would treat the bill as a confidence vote. In other words,
the government's failure to defeat the bill would mean it no
longer enjoyed the confidence of the Commons, meaning Johnson
would have little other choice than to seek a general election.

"If Conservative MPs help him to make no deal illegal tomorrow
and therefore create another pointless delay, the government's
negotiating position will be wrecked," the official said.

"In those circumstances, what MPs will effectively be voting for
is to hold a rapid election."

Downing Street would first seek an election by bringing forward a
motion for an early general election under the Fixed-Term
Parliaments Act. Under the terms of the law, two-thirds of MPs -
that is, 434 - would need to support the prime minister's plan.

That means a big chunk of Labour MPs would need to support the
plan. Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, has indicated he will
instruct his MPs to support a general election but not until the
legislation designed to block a no-deal Brexit has passed.

"We want a general election, as do all the other parties," Corbyn
said on Tuesday.

"The priority is to prevent a no-deal exit from the EU on 31
October and we'll see what comes after that."

Shami Chakrabarti, Labour's shadow attorney general, told Sky
News on Tuesday that the party was also concerned with ensuring
that Johnson couldn't change the date of an election midway
through the campaign, which some MPs think Johnson would
consider.

Labour could therefore hand Johnson a problem. If Labour MPs do
reject the plan, Downing Street could pass a motion of no
confidence in itself. That act would trigger an early general
election after 14 days if no alternative government can command
the confidence of a majority of MPs, which is unlikely given
factional divisions among opposition MPs.

Johnson, whose tactics since he took office have been to goad his
opponents and terrify them into submission, did not plan for it
to be like this. The question is whether he can find a way out.

"I'm not convinced he's going to get his way," one Conservative
MP who rebelled against the government Tuesday told Business
Insider. "I think he'll be boxed in by the end of this week."